This Amateur Rocket Strapped With Cameras Reaches 121,000 ft

So this guy Derek Deville built a rocket and launched it into space. And apparently that's legal, which blows my mind. He was trying to win $10,000 from a contest judged by John D. Carmack. The rules stated that the contestants must build a rocket that gains 100,000 feet from launch altitude, record a GPS serial log of the flight, rover it intact and functional and video record it all. First one to accomplish this wins.

Deville built The Qu8k which shot up 23 miles and landed about three miles from the launching spot all in about eight and a half minutes. You can read all the science stuff in depth and see some cool pictures of the process here.

Deville unfortunately didn't win, and to that his mother Cruella commented, "Perfectly wretched." These guys won, but their video isn't as cool. You and I may think it's a shame to waste all that time and money and still lose, but Derek did it all for the love of rockets. He had fun, we had fun, everyone wins. Plus, he gets to brag that he shot something into space. Space!!!

This is all completely insane. My hobbies include painting my dresser and making paper bookmark corners. There are people just making rocket ships and launching them into the sky! Sometimes I like this weird country of ours.

Fact Check Edit: Derek Deville has no relation to the fictional character Cruella de Vil and she had no comments on this story.